Biochemist and marathon runner Emma Caldridge is halfway through South Africa's Comrades ultra-marathon when a roadside car bomb explodes. When she wakes up, dazed and disoriented, a stranger is injecting her with an unknown substance that leaves her stronger than before. Then the man vanishes.

Emma wants answers, and turns to Edward Banner of the security company Darkview. But Banner's already got his hands full, thanks to the assault on a cruise ship by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden--a ship that carries a weapon, possibly chemical in nature, that he needs Emma to identify. And among the hostages is special agent Cameron Sumner--a man to whom Emma owes her life.

Emma knows this assignment is potential suicide. Still, nothing is going to prevent her from getting aboard the captured vessel. And this time, there'snowhere to run . . .

A chemist for a cosmetics company and an ultramarathon runner, Emma Caldridge is en route from Miami to Bogota when her plane goes down in the mountains near the Venezuelan border. Thrown unhurt from the wreckage, she watches in horror as guerrillas drag the other passengers into the jungle. Stranded and alone in a deadly environment, Emma has no choice but to follow--and stumbles across Cameron Sumner, an injured government agent who was left behind to die.

As a Washington, D.C., task force races to the crash site in hopes of finding survivors, Emma and Cameron creep closer to a nightmare they may be powerless to prevent. But Emma is no ordinary woman--and she guards a secret both powerful and deadly that her adversaries would gleefully kill to possess.

And now she must run . . .

'A page-turner of non-stop action that should leave his fans begging for more' NEW YORK POST 'The real titan of the genre is Robert Ludlum' GQ 'A master at the conspiracy theory type of thriller, his books operating on an ever-spiralling series of surprise revelations, with double, treble and quadruple crosses as everyday as sun-ups and sunsets' IRISH TIMES One evening in Washington, DC, several high-ranking members of government disappear in a mass kidnapping. Among the kidnapped is Nick Rendel, a computer software coding expert in charge of drone programming and strategy. He is the victim with the most dangerous knowledge, including confidential passwords and codes that are used to program the drones. If revealed, his kidnappers could reprogram the drones to strike targets within the United States. Jon Smith and the Covert-One team begin a worldwide search to recover the officials, but as the first kidnapping victims are rescued, they show disturbing signs of brainwashing or mind-altering drugs. Smith's investigation leads him to Fort Detrick, where a researcher, Dr Laura Taylor, had been attempting to create a drug to wipe memory from soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. But Dr Taylor's research was suspended almost a year ago, when she was placed in a mental institution. Now, if Smith doesn't figure out the brainwashing drug, and track down the kidnapped Nick Rendel, the kidnappers will soon have the power to carry out drone strikes anywhere in the world...

On one evening in Washington, DC, several high-ranking members of government disappear in a mass kidnapping. Among the kidnapped is Nick Rendel, a computer software coding expert in charge of drone programming and strategy. He is the victim with the most dangerous knowledge, including confidential passwords and codes that are used to program the drones. If revealed, his kidnappers could reprogram the drones to strike targets within the United States. Jon Smith and the Covert One team begin a worldwide search to recover the officials, but as the first kidnapping victims are rescued, they show disturbing signs of brainwashing or mind-altering drugs. Smith's investigation leads him to Fort Detrick, where a researcher, Dr. Laura Taylor, had been attempting to create a drug to wipe memory from soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. But Dr. Taylor's research was suspended almost a year ago, when she was placed in a mental institution. Now, if Smith doesn't figure out the brainwashing drug, and track down the kidnapped Nick Rendel, the kidnappers will soon have the power to carry out drone strikes anywhere in the world....

With U.S. intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the president was forced to establish his own clandestine group--Covert-One. It is activated only as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out.
THE JANUS REPRISAL
It begins with a terrorist attack. Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is attending a conference in The Hague on infectious diseases, together with leading scientists and political figures from around the world. Without warning, the conference hotel is consumed in a bloodbath. Smith is caught in the crossfire and barely escapes . . . but not before discovering a picture of himself and two other targets in the pocket of one of the shooters.
But the hotel is not the only location under attack in The Hague. Bombs are going off at the train station, the airport, and the International Criminal Court, where Pakistani warlord Oman Dattar is being held while he's tried for crimes against humanity. In the resulting chaos, the prisoner escapes.
Dattar nurses a special hatred for the United States and its allies. With his freedom, and access to a mysterious new weapon, Dattar puts in motion a murderous, ambitious plot to exact his revenge and bring down the West once and for all--unless Covert-One can stop him.

Emma Caldridge, a chemist for a cosmetics company, is en route from Miami to Bogota when her plane is hijacked and spins out of control into the mountains near the Venezuelan border. Thrown unhurt from the wreckage, she can do nothing but watch as guerrillas take the other passengers hostage.

An endurance marathon runner, Emma silently trails the guerrillas and their captives, using her athletic prowess and scientific knowledge to stay alive. Those skills become essential when she discovers an injured passenger, secret government agent Cameron Sumner, separated from the group. Together they follow the hostages, staying one step ahead by staying one step behind.

Meanwhile, as news of the hijacking breaks in Washington, the Department of Defense turns to Edward Banner, former military officer and current CEO of a security consulting firm, for help. Banner quickly sends a special task force to the crash site, intent on locating the survivors before it's too late.

But finding Emma and Sumner is only the beginning, as Banner starts to realize that Emma was on a personal mission when the plane went down. There is more to the beautiful, talented biochemist than anyone ever imagined, for in her possession is a volatile biological weapon in an ingenious disguise, one that her enemies have set for auction to the highest bidder.

Combining the action-packed plotting of Lee Child and Daniel Silva, and the rich scientific detail of Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen, "Running from the Devil" is a breathtaking debut from a bold and daring new author.

The brand new Covert-One novel in the series created by the undisputed master of the thriller genre and creator of Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum. When Covert-One's top operative Jon Smith wakes in a hotel room, he's staring down the barrel of a gun. The area is under terrorist attack and within minutes, bombs explode right across the city. In this perfectly formulated chaos, criminal warlord Oman Dattar, held for crimes against humanity, escapes while his men attempt to steal a new strain of deadly bacteria being showcased at an international conference. In the wrong hands, it has the power to devastate nations - and Dattar and his men have it firmly in their sights to use in their plot to bring down the West once and for all. Can Jon Smith stop him or is it already too late?